There’s a letter floating around that is drafted to the Governor of Florida from some who say they are sick and tired of the politics of Aramis Ayala. The recent traffic stop by The Orlando Police Department that she calls racially motivated is making it’s rounds on social media, with the help of Orange and Osceola county taxpayers, and has actually been posted and supported by activist and Journalist Shaun King.

Below is a copy of the letter. Tell us your thoughts.

Dear Governor Rick Scott:

As a registered voter of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, I ask that you suspend Aramis Ayala from office and request the Senate review that suspension for impeachment.

While reasonable people can disagree on the death penalty as a policy issue, an elected official who swore to uphold the laws of the State of Florida should not be allowed to unilaterally cherry-pick which laws she will or will not follow. We ask that you remove her immediately and appoint someone of high legal stature, like the former Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Belvin Perry to take her place.

Aramis Ayala helped to disenfranchise over 500,000 voters that reside in Orange and Osceola counties during her election and she did not run on the platform of not enforcing the death penalty therefore she is not a duly elected officer of the court.

Ayala has spent over $1.4 million of money from George Soros to unfairly call her opponent, Jeff Ashton, a racist. Now, she has taken $17,000 of our money and paid a Public Relations firm to unfairly do the same to you for rightfully taking 24 death penalty cases from her. As aware and active voters, we take this kind of deception very seriously.

We also ask that you investigate her husband, David Ayala, and the money from George Soros, that was filtered into his non-profit organization which is supposed to help restore the rights of violent offenders.

Finally, if the Supreme Court sides with you in the lawsuit she filed against you, her position will likely be to say she’ll look at each case on a case by case basis and decide if it is worthy of the death penalty. After her press conference in March and as a result of her own words, we do not believe she would have an epiphany and somehow now enforce the law.

Please do not let us down. We look forward to your action on this matter.

There has been an outcry from those who support and those against the death penalty over the past several days.
State Attorney Aramis Ayala held a press conference saying she would not seek the death penalty on accused murderer Markeith Loyd.
She also said, she would not seek the death penalty on any other cases during her administration; current and future.
She stood with her pastor at her side while making this announcement. When a reporter asked shouldn’t voters have known about her position on the death penalty, Ayala arrogantly responded, “they know now.”
Well, we do know now and so does the Governor of Florida. Governor Scott rightfully asked the State Attorney to recuse herself from the case yet she refused.
This decision is a big one as it means she took control by taking a piece of the law from the hands of legislators in Tallahassee and decided to govern it as she sees fit. In other words, she’s legislating her own anti-death penalty rules from the office of “Top Cop” in Orange and Osceola counties. In case anyone is wondering, a Prosecutor’s job is to be the bad guy in the eyes of criminals, not their advocate. In this case and all future cases, she is claiming to be an advocate for crime and criminals.

State Attorney of Ninth Judicial Circuit at press conference telling community she will not seek the death penalty on any cases

It’s clear she’s not ready for the position of Prosecutor, in recent stories she’s shown she’s not ready to manage an office by holding a press conference and outting employees that she thought did drugs during off-duty hours. She’s never had any management experience prior to being elected and she likely should have put her name in the hat for Public Defender instead of State Attorney since her sympathy toward criminals far exceeds her ability to be a prosecutor.

Seeking only Life without Parole for an alleged cold-blooded killer is disturbing and some are silent because they fear retaliation.

On Monday, a hearing was live-streamed and Ayala, who was recused from the case by the Governor, was there. So was Markeith Loyd and so was Brad King, the prosecutor appointed to take over the case. As Loyd left the courtroom he looked at the State Attorney and nodded at her as if they were working together.

This is a situation that most have never seen before. Even Judge Lauten, who presided over the hearing, said he’s not seen anything like this before in his career.

This is dividing communities of color, further and here’s one reason why. The Black and Brown communities are filled with good people. People who want to provide their children with a great education and it oozes people who want to be safe. Ayala’s move shows there is no system in place in Orange and Osceola counties to defend the rights of Law Enforcement or law abiding citizens.

My Mother used to take us to the bus stop armed, to let the drug dealers, prostitutes and all other criminals know that Rhea, Rhetta and any other kid that rode our bus, were not to be bothered. She is fearless. Many are not. Having a system in place that protects us is warranted. Having a balanced judicial system is necessary.

On the other hand, it’s clear, we have a problem with justice in America. Black and Brown men and women populate prisons for violent and non-violent crimes. However, what Ayala is doing is not the way to make the necessary changes and legislating from a Prosecutor’s seat means she lied when she took the oath of office to uphold the law.

After the hearing on Monday Ayala released a motion to stay on the case. In that motion, she mentioned, she is a “popularly elected” State Attorney. That is also untruthful.
She was elected after closing the primaries against State Attorney Jeff Ashton with a fake write-in candidate. That loophole disenfranchised Independents, NPA’s and Republicans.

She still couldn’t get her head above water during the campaign so she sold her soul to billionaire and Black Lives Matter financier, George Soros, who then ran a campaign against Ashton to the tune of $1.4 million in slanderous ads that called Ashton a biased, racist, State Attorney.

Furthermore, over 20,000 people wrote-in another name on the general election, ballot as opposed to selecting Ayala, something that has never happened in a State Attorney’s race in Orange and Osceola counties.

Ayala’s oath appears to uphold Soros’ agenda and not the law of the State of Florida.
If she leaned on her Christian beliefs to make this decision, she did not separate church and state and that should scare everyone. Not all people believe in Christianity and if a non-Christian was in that seat and made a decision based on their faith, all hell would break loose. In this case, all hell is breaking loose because many believe having the Death Penalty on the table is a tool prosecutors use to get the harshest punishment they can. Ayala’s actions are summing up to look like political suicide.

There are many active groups and caucuses out there claiming to represent Black people. But, they are listening to organizations like the NAACP and other Black groups that may not represent the perspective we truly have. But, these same organizations are the ones that in the 1990’s helped fuel the mass incarceration problem by asking President Clinton to crack down on crime in the Black communities; and that wasn’t the work of the Republicans, that was the work of the Democrats. They then sketched out a plan to help stop and punish crime and that led to many people of color being incarcerated for non-violent offenses.

Ayala has a history of being sympathetic to criminals. She worked as a Public Defender and also mentioned on her campaign trail that she is married to a felon who spent 7-10 years in federal prison for dealing drugs. According to Ayala, he has since done his time and is living a new life.

But what about those who were addicted to drugs and purchased drugs from him? Do they get a new chance at life? Likely not. Addicts, if they survive, are treated as criminals and not as people suffering from a disease called addiction.

As for the real movement to make change between some law enforcement officers and the Black and Brown communities, currently, there are over 32 bills in Congress for Blue Lives Matter and none for Black Lives Matter. Congress is where the change really takes place.

If Ayala and Soros are using Markeith Loyd as their poster child for stopping mass incarceration or the death penalty, their actions have put the final nail in the coffin of the Black Lives Matter movement and shame on all the Black and Brown organizations that are allowing this to happen.

The Sabal Trail Pipeline is similar to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that has garnered so much attention over the past year. DAPL will transport oil and the Sabal Palm pipeline is going to transport natural gas.

In North Dakota, Energy Transfer Partners’ pipeline was initially going to be constructed on land that ran through a predominantly white community. Because pipelines often contaminate water and they explode often, that community fought back and Energy Transfer Partners moved their construction to Treaty land, which is land occupied and owned by Native Americans. The Army Corp of Engineers OK’d the permit for both the North Dakota Pipeline and the Sabal Trail Pipeline.

The Sabal Trail Pipeline’s purpose is the same as the DAPL and that is to get oil or natural gas from one place to another. The problem is, communities that sit atop that pipeline do not want their water and environment threatened by the oil and the process. The Sabal Trail pipeline runs through Georgia and Alabama and the bulk of it runs through Florida spanning 260+ miles in the state alone. It crosses Reedy Creek near Disney and runs along the southern end of Lake Kissimmee.
The Sabal Trail Pipeline is a project spearheaded by Florida Power and Light (FPL) which is the parent company to NextEra, Duke and Spectra Energy. Set to carry a billion cubic feet per day of gas, this pipeline is meeting resistance head on by some community leaders.
Last year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project. The approval and the project itself sparked protests and reform.

Opposers believe the pipeline is not a necessity in Florida and our state should rely more on solar-generated energy.

Adam Woodhall, President-elect of the Central Florida Progressive Caucus, drafted and presented a Resolution that would call for the elected officials and residents to take part in stopping the pipeline. Woodhall’s resolution was passed by Democrats last Thursday night in Orlando when both the Osceola county and Orange County Democratic Executive Committees voted in favor of the Resolution. Moving toward stopping the pipeline is a big step to protect the environment. Woodhall said, “I wanted to bring to light, to local residents, the dangers of having a pipeline run through their back yards.”

Shortly following the victory, a supporter of the Resolution, Ansh Grover posted on social media, “Tonight, Orange County DEC joined Orange County in passing the resolution to #StopSabal (Pipeline) and take a strong stance to pressure our elected leaders across the state and #divest from those special interests that continue to threaten our clean water, our environment and keep us back in time.”

Unfortunately, construction has already started and some parts of the pipeline is already completed. According to a statement released by Spectra Energy, the project is expected to be operational by May of this year.

But, if it isn’t completed on time, the company could lose a $200 million bond.

State Commiteewoman Sama Nuzuma (D) said, “I will be taking rigorous actions to create more awareness in my community. It’s right in my backyard and I am very concerned for its harmful affects. I will be knocking on all of our elected official’s doors for it to stop. They have already started the construction, but I do believe that it’s never too late to stand for what’s right!”

Osceola county resident, Aimee Imami said, “We support the resolution because this pipeline is extremely harmful to the environment and the future of us and our children.”

Imami added, “This resolution is important to the community because being against the construction of this pipeline stands for protecting the water and the earth. It is being constructed near our precious bodies of water in the north of Florida and has the potential to impact our Florida aquifer. Here in Osceola county, it is built next to schools and communities. There are 3 compressor stations being built in Osceola county alone which can cause nose bleeds and other harmful heath effects as well as air pollution. The fracking involved in this will cause our porous Florida land which is already prone to sinkholes to only get worse and has the potential to cause earthquakes. We need being so energy dependent on oil and natural gas and go solar in this Sunshine state. This natural gas pipeline is not even for our benefit. It is for overseas consumption. We need to stop these pipelines now before it’s too late for our Earth and lives.”

Sen. Dana Young (R) Tampa, filed a bill (SB 442) with bipartisan support, banning all fracking in the state of Florida. This bill will be considered during the legislative session that starts on March 7th. If passed, it could have an impact on the construction of the Sabal Trail Pipeline.

Currently, Woodhall’s resolution is up for a vote in the Miami-Dade DEC as well.

Woodhall added, “It doesn’t bring jobs. It doesn’t bring money into the local economy. It destroys the environment for the sake of profits, over the health of the people. The absolute last thing I want to happen was Central Florida becoming the next Flint, Michigan. I did not want it to be ‘our turn’ to participate in an environmental disaster. “

Rhetta Peoples is the CEO of a thriving boutique advertising, grassroots marketing and crisis public relations firm based in Orlando. She is also a journalist for the Black Press, a political expert, a Mom, a wife and a black woman meeting success head-on in Orlando.

Email Subscription

Rhetta Peoples is the CEO of a thriving boutique advertising, grassroots marketing and crisis public relations firm based in Orlando. She is also a journalist for the Black Press, a political expert, a Mom, a wife and a black woman meeting success head-on in Orlando.